Monkey In The Room
by Illabeth
Summary: Parker teaches Brennan about life and love in an afternoon of games and fun. But will Brennan have the courage to take what Parker teaches her to heart? BB Parker One-shot fluff.


_And here I am. Back with a one-shot. I camp up with the idea for this started writing it ages ago. But then muise left. But now musie is back, however still refusing to write any more FMA, so in the mean time. Here is a fluffy one-shot to try and get the creative juices flowing again. _

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Bones, except my own. **

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**Monkey in the Room**

"You're not doing it right Bones!" Parker sighed, frustration evident in his voice. "The yellow monkey goes before the green monkey." Booth couldn't help but chuckle at the look that crossed Bones' face at that statement.

Booth had convinced her on Friday to spend the day with him and Parker today at his apartment. The six-year-old had been asking about her after their last outing to the Jeffersonian's Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs, where she had completely charmed the pants off him. He had been giddy with excitement at her vast knowledge of the different exhibits. When Booth had questioned her on it later she had blushed and admitted to asking the curator of the museum about each of them and then reading extra information about each specimen so that she would have enough knowledge to explain each one to Parker and teach him about the different dinosaurs.

Booth had laughed then and asked her if she knew that she had been talking to a six-year-old. And she had replied that she just wanted to get it right, "What is the point of teaching kids about things you don't know much about yourself? Anyway, it was very interesting. I'm glad I know more about them now." Booth smiled. He was glad she'd had fun. He'd had a blast. And for all her "I don't want kids" bluster she was incredibly natural with Parker and was so attentive to him throughout the whole day, it had amazed Booth that this woman would deny any child the chance to have her as a mother.

However, Bones and Parker were currently seated on his living room floor playing an extremely complicated game that Parker had devised himself involving a home-made sofa cushion fort and various different coloured monkeys. Both Parker and Bones were growing increasingly more frustrated with each other (and the game) as Bones just could not seem to do anything right. First she had set up the fort wrong. "The flag is supposed to go on the left turret Bones, not the right." He had told her as if she were stupid; she had never heard a six-year-old sound more patronizing in her life. When Bones had asked why, Parker had simply rolled his eyes and told her it was because those were the rules of the game.

"It was you who taught him to roll his eyes Bones!" Booth had pointed out to her later when she had complained about it to him.

"I most certainly did not!" She replied indignantly. But Booth knew better and just gave her an eye roll of his own. That earned him a look that could have frozen hell over.

When he left them to go and begin dinner, they were sitting in the fort defending it from the advance of an army of soft toys, its leader a rather large stuffed Kangaroo that Angela and Hodgins had brought back for him on their trip to Australia. In the same trip, they had given Bones a vast collection of Australian Aboriginal art and tools, all of which Parker was incredibly enthused about. Consequently, they had spent most of one Saturday at Bones' apartment while she explained to him in detail about the Aborigines. Booth had been bored out of his brains but Parker had listened intently the whole time and Booth just knew that between them, the squints were going to bring his son over to the dark side.

The magical coloured monkeys had been defending the fort under the command of General Parker who was still telling Bones off for getting the wrong monkey to do the wrong thing.

"Bones, you got it wrong again! It's the blue monkey that can fly, not the red one." This was the last thing Booth heard before he disappeared into the kitchen.

Booth came out from the kitchen after he put the pasta on for the Mac & Cheese. Bones and Parker were still in the living-room, although now they had moved onto a new game. _Twister_. As he walked into the room he could not help but let out a snort of laughter. Bones shot him a death glare as best she could from her current position on the floor.

"It's not funny Booth!" She told him huffily.

"Oh it most certainly is. How about the two of you just hang in there a few seconds longer while I go find my camera?"

This earned him a simultaneous –

"Don't even think about it Booth!" from Bones.

And "Yeah Daddy!" from a much excited Parker.

Bones won. No question in his mind. He had quite a fondness for his life.

Although it was hard to resist the urge; Bones was stretched out on her back, crab style, her hands and legs on the farthest side of the board. Parker was tangled about her legs underneath her as he desperately tried to stretch his hand around her leg to reach a free blue circle. He could see Bones straining, trying not to drop on top of Parker.

"Careful of my son there Bones, I don't want him damaged when you can't hold yourself up any more and drop down on top of him," he goaded her. He loved watching her get worked up, and he knew that he was relatively safe with Parker being there.

Bones grunted and went to answer but once again Parker cut across her as he giggled loudly, almost collapsing under her on the slippery mat.

"Daddy," he then spoke somewhat semi-seriously though his giggles. "Bones wouldn't drop on me, she is too strong."

"I wouldn't bet on it Buddy, I can see her wobbling already." His eyes sparkled as he watched her face for a reaction to his words. She grunted indignantly, obviously annoyed that she was stuck in this position.

"I am fine Booth. Don't you worry Parker, you're right, I'm not going to drop on you. Your Dad is just being annoying."

"He is annoying," Parker nodded in agreement at Bones' teasing words. Temperance burst into laughter at this, Booth was genuinely shocked.

"Parker!" He hissed good-naturedly when he had recovered slightly. "You're supposed to agree with _me_! I'm your father!"

"But Bones was right; you're annoying our game, Dad. Can't you go and finish dinner? I'm hungry!" Booth laughed at his son's strident tone.

"Yes Master Parker, I can go and finish dinner; I just wanted to see what the two of you were up too. What happened to the army of Monkeys?"

"They got boring; Bones kept getting it wrong anyways. But can you 'lieve Daddy, Bones didn't even know how to play Twister?" Parker asked him in an astonished voice.

"Yes buddy, that I can believe." He laughed as he made his way back into the kitchen to finish their dinner.

As he stood at the stove stirring the pasta, he decided that he had to get Bones back for turning his son against him. Or at the very least win Parker back onto his side. He grinned.

After draining the pasta in the sink Booth made his way over to one of the kitchen cabinets and opening it, proceeded to rummage though it until his hand closed triumphantly on a small bottle of blue food colouring.

Back in the living room, the Twister game had been abandoned on the floor, joining the forgotten pile of cushions that had once been their fort; the deep blue pillows interspersed with different coloured and shaped soft toys. Bones and Parker had moved on to yet another game; this time, _Master Mind: Junior _which Bones was currently winning.

It was Parker's turn to guess and he sat there with his tongue in-between his teeth concentrating hard on what he was going to guess next. After he placed the pink hippopotamus in the final groove he looked up at Bones expectantly, and to her surprise he spoke, having been uncharacteristically silent since Booth had left the room fifteen minutes ago.

"Daddy likes you, ya know Bones." Temperance's head shot up at his words and she looked intently into his eyes.

"I know he likes me Parker, we are close friends and partners."

"No," the boy shook his head. "He likes you more than that. He _loves_ you." For the second time that day she heard the most condescending tone come out of the little boy's mouth. He was talking to her as if she were stupid. And just maybe, she thought, she had been a little stupid when it came to Booth. This was something Angela had been telling her for years. However, she still went on to deny what he had told her, just as she did with Angela.

"No Parker, we are just good friends," she tried to explain to him, although Parker was having none of it.

"Na'ah," he shook his head. "I _know_ he loves you." He told her pointedly.

"How Parker, how do you know that?" She kept her voice level, trying not to betray the nervousness that she felt, the excitement. How could this be making her feel like this? He was a damn six-year-old, he had no idea how his dad felt about her. But it was what he said next that really shocked her.

"'Cause at night I sometimes hear him calling your name in his sleep. And he always says that he loves you in his sleep. I heard him last night when I got up 'cause I had to go to the bathroom. And mommy does the same thing when Drew is 'way 'cause she misses him. And I know that my mommy loves Drew. Daddy calls _your_ name 'cause he loves you, see, and he misses you when you are 'way."

To say the least she was stunned at the young boy's reasoning. But then she knew that like his daddy, Parker was not stupid. She opened her mouth but before she even had the chance to reply, Booth came back out of the kitchen and announced into the silence that dinner was ready and had been served. Closing her mouth, she looked at Parker who was smiling his 1000 watt smile at her, the smile that was so like his father's, making her melt on the inside.

"Come on Parker, we better go and get washed up for dinner."

--

"But Booth, it's blue!" Bones exclaimed upon sitting down at the table to her very vibrantly blue macaroni and cheese.

"Cool!" Parker shouted, looking up at his dad with wide eyes. "This is sooo cool. Mom would _never_ let us have blue macaroni!"

"But why on earth is it _blue?_" Bones said.

"Because it is. I thought it would be fun." He grinned at his son as he added tomato sauce to his plate. Bones looked from the sauce bottle in his hands then up to his face, a single eye-brow arched.

"What?" He shrugged, "That's the way he likes it!"

Bones just once again gave him one of her world class eye rolls.

"'Because it is', is not a valid reason Booth."

"Look daddy! When I mix my sauce in with the macaroni it turns purple! This is so cool." Parker repeated the sentiments as he shovelled the purple food into his mouth.

"Just eat it and enjoy Bones. It's just some fun." Bones rolled her eyes and began to place the pasta in her mouth, chewing carefully.

When Parker looked up again his lips were bright blue.

"You enjoying that Park?" Booth laughed as his son nodded enthusiastically. "Well you just wait till you see what we have for dessert." They both laughed while Brennan groaned.

Much later, the three of them were on the couch, the credits of _Finding Nemo_ playing in the background. Booth and Bones were at either end with Parker fast asleep between them, his head resting on Brennan's lap as she absent-mindedly ran her fingers though his golden curls.

Booth grunted as he shifted Parker so that he could stand up.

"Give him here Bones and I'll put him to bed."

Once Booth had left the room, she got up, turned the television off and made her way over to one of the many bookcases in the room that housed Booth's photographs. She smiled as she saw many of him playing with Parker, at his birthday parties or at Christmas. There were a few of who Brennan assumed were Booth's brother Jared and his parents.

The next one that made her stop was one of her and Booth. It had been taken at Wong Foo's a few years before. She and Booth were looking at each other, not at the camera and she had a big smile on her face. She could vaguely remember the day, Angela had just gotten a new camera and had been taking photos of everyone all day without them knowing. She had been annoyed at the time. But even she had to admit that this was a nice photograph of the two of them. She thought that it captured their relationship perfectly. Although looking at it now, with Parker's words still swimming around in her head, she thought that she could see an underlying emotion. _Was it love? Like Parker said_. She was pulled from her thoughts by Booth who had re-entered the room at some point.

"Hey Bones, what 'cha looking at?"

"Oh nothing, just a photo," She stiffened as she felt Booth come up behind her. He leaned over her shoulder and looked at the photo that had caught her attention.

"Oh, I like that photo. Angela gave it to me last year when she was going though some of her old prints. She said that it captured everything that we are to each other."

"I agree with her," Brennan mumbled, put off by how close he was to her and the heat rolling off his chest. Turning she looked up at him.

"I think there just may be one thing missing though Booth."

He looked down at her. "And what would that be Bones?" He spoke softly and it took her a few moments to get up the courage to speak again.

"It was just something Parker said to me today."

"What did he tell you Bones, you know he is only six-years-old right?"

"I know he is only six, Booth," she swatted him in the chest but he caught her hand and held on. "But he is a very smart six-year-old." She paused. "He told me that you loved me."

Booth sucked in a breath though his teeth.

"Bo…" But she cut him off by placing a single finger to his lips.

"And you know how he knows that you love me, Booth?" He just shook his head, her finger still sitting against his lips.

"He told me that he heard you calling my name in your sleep. And that meant that you loved me." She looked up at him though deep crystalline eyes. "Is there something you aren't telling me?"

To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.

"Well?" she prompted, removing her finger from his face. "Booth?"

"Bones…He…I…" But as he looked at her something clicked for him. She was telling him how she felt about him, not the other way around. And all he had to do was accept and admit what he knew he had been feeling for a very long while.

"Yes, Bones," he whispered. She held her breath, barely daring to believe.

"Yes, what?" she breathed.

"Yes Bones. Parker was right. I do love you."

And that was when she smiled, that amazing smile that he loved so much. He leaned down to capture his lips with hers. She was so soft and warm and as he kissed her he ran his tongue over her bottom lip asking permission to enter, permission she readily granted.

He moaned as he felt the hot wetness of her mouth. Their tongues vying for control, reaching and receding as if in battle. He knew one thing for sure. He never wanted this to end. But as her arms reached up to circle his neck and his went down to rub on her bare waist where her t-shirt had ridden up just a little, he knew he needed to breathe if he wanted to keep doing this to her for the rest of his life. Breaking contact, he kissed across her jaw and down her neck, pausing to suck on her collar bone. She was driving him crazy.

Her hands delved into his hair, her short nails raking across his scalp causing him to shiver with pleasure. As he continued his journey across her neck, he felt her tugging at his hair, pulling him back. He kissed the red mark on her clavicle and leaned back, taking in the sight of her.

She was gorgeous, her lips swollen and red from the kiss, still tinged with a slight blue from their dinner. Her chest heaved as she sucked air into her lungs. Her face held a healthy flush and her hair was slightly mussed.

"So Bones, you up for some more dessert?" he whispered as she struggled to gain control over her raging arousal.

"But we ate all the ice-cream after dinner." She looked up at him, her arms still encircling his neck.

"Yeah, but I think I have some chocolate sauce in the fridge." He grinned wickedly at her and winked. She quickly caught up on his meaning.

"Oh, in that case, I'm sure that I could handle more dessert." She grinned saucily at him and turned towards the bedroom, disappearing slowly down the darkened corridor. When he didn't move she glanced over her shoulder at him.

"You coming or what?"

_Not yet Bones, not yet _was all he could think as he hurried off after her towards his bedroom. He was definitely ready for some more dessert.

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_Reviews are much appreciated. They don't take that long and it is great to know what you thought of my story after reading it. Many thanks, Squirt. _


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